Women in Public

"Elaine Kahn's poems touch me somewhere deep."--Kim Gordon

In Women in Public, the debut full-length collection by poet/musician Elaine Kahn, personal philosophies and collective admissions are put through the corporeal grinder, harnessing the sensual as a medium for the cerebral in order to negotiate the "feminine condition" of being simultaneously othered and consumed. By turns seductive and self-deprecating, Women in Public navigates a world where the erotics of the body and mind do battle against the constructs that would demean and define them, using lyric, fragment, humor, and repetition to create a space flexible enough to hold the many contradictions of reality. Where expectations and desires can be piled too easily upon the body, Kahn digs in her heels, writing in attempt to liberate physical form from society's confines.

Praise for Women in Public:

"'Do you think that you are greater than a mom?' This is an intensely honest, honestly intense poetry. Humorous, carnal, accusatory, celebratory--Women in Public tells me to get lost so I do. When I find myself later, I'm re-reading Women in Public."--Rod Smith

"In these exhilarating poems, Elaine Kahn shoots from the groin, championing a ferociousness that rages against asperity while playfully seducing the reader to misbehave. Hers is a realm where oceans beat against genitals, and Hannah Wilke warms the earth. I don't want to let go of Women in Public for I want its boldness all to myself."--Dodie Bellamy

About the Author:

Musician, poet, artist, Elaine Kahn was born in Evanston, Illinois and is currently based in Oakland, California. She received an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a BA from California College of the Arts. Kahn is the author of three poetry chapbooks, A Voluptuous Dream During an Eclipse (2012), Customer (2010), and Radiant Bottle Caps (2008), and is a contributor to Art Papers. Her music project, Horsebladder, has toured widely throughout the U.S. and Canada. She is also co-founder of the feminist puppet troop P. Splash Collective and managing editor of the small press Flowers & Cream.


Author: Elaine Kahn
Publisher: City Lights Books
Published: 04/21/2015
Pages: 101
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.30lbs
Size: 6.90h x 5.50w x 0.50d
ISBN13: 9780872866812
ISBN10: 0872866815
BISAC Categories:
- Poetry | American | General
- Poetry | Women Authors
- Literary Collections | American | General

About the Author
Elaine Kahn is an artist born in Evanston, Illinois and currently based in Oakland, California. She received an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a BFA from California College of the Arts. Kahn is the author of three poetry chapbooks: A Voluptuous Dream During an Eclipse (Poor Claudia/Octopus Books 2012), Customer (Ecstatic Peace Library, 2010), and Radiant Bottle Caps (Glasseye, 2008). Writing has been featured in Art Papers, Jubilat, Coldfront, SFMOMA's Open Space, Octopus Magazine, Boog City, NADA Contemporary Poetry Zine, and elsewhere.

Kahn's music project, Horsebladder, has toured widely throughout the US and Canada, performing with such acts as Body/Head, Secret Boyfriend, Samantha Vacation, Profligate, Jake Meginsky, Weyes Blood, Bobb Trimble, and many more. Her most recent LP, a split with Farewell My Concubine called After You, came out on Hot Releases in 2014. Other releases include the LP Not I'll Not (Ecstatic Peace, 2011) and the cassettes Summer (PSA Tapes, 2013) and Nicole (Night People, 2010).

Elaine is a co-founder of the feminist puppet troop Oh Behave, managing editor of the small press Flowers & Cream, and a member of the OMNI Oakland Collective.